Serving-tray support for automobiles



Oct. 13,1925. I 1,557,262

J. E. M GEE- SERVING TRAY SUPPORT FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Jan. 1.7, 1924 Jesse 3- attorney Patented Oct. 13, 1925.

UMTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE E. MoG-EE, OF GUNTOWN, MISS TSSIPPI.

SERVING-TRAY SUPPORT 30R AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed January 17, 1924. Serial No. 686,851.

,- useful Improvements in Serving l ray Sup ports for Automobiles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved construction of serving tray support for automobiles, and more particularly to a support which will be readily clamped to or over the top of a door ofan automobile to support a tray, when refreshments are to be served at the curb or at any other time.

An object of the invention is to provide a suitable serving tray support for automobiles which will ada'pt itself to fit on different sizes of automobile doors, or other parts of an automobile to support a tray when refreshments are being served at the curb, thereby making it unnecessary for the I occupants of the automobile to leave the same;

A further object of the invention is to provide a serving tray support for automobiles which will be highly efiicient in use, and

quite inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects will appear as the description proceeds. I

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of my application,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved serving tray support, showing a door positioned thereon.

Figure 2 1s a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, with the tray removed from the support, and,

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2. i Like characters of reference will be used throughout the specification and the accompanying drawings to designate correspond formed of a rubber composition, although they may be formed with any desired material, and are arranged so that new bands may be placed on the arms when desired.

A bracket 5 is secured to the underneath surface of the body portionadj acent one end thereof, and extends downwardly and connected at its lower end to a fixed handle 6. A bearing rod 7 is secured to the bracket 5 and extends approximately the whole length of the body portion of the support, and in spaced relation thereto. of the bearing rod 7 is bent upwardly and is fixedly attached to the said body portion. An inverted U-shaped slide member or clamping member 8 is provided with the The opposite end downwardly extending clamping arm 9, on T which is positioned the cushioning band 10, and a downwardly extending arm 11 to which is attached the movable handle 12.

This slide member is provided with alined I openings which are of such a size as to snugly engage the bearing rod 7, in such a manner thatthe upper portion of the slide member 8 will slidably contact on the underneath surface of the body portion of the support. A suitable stop 13 is attached to the underneath surface of the .body portion and is adapted to limit the movement of the slide member. A coil spring 14 is positioned about the bearing rod 7 and passes through an opening 15 tl'ierethrough and has its opposite end connected with the downwardly extending clamping arm 9 so that the said clampingarm will normally be drawn away from the fixed handle 6.

Spaced downwardly extending clamping arms 16' areattached to the un-derneath'surface of the body portion of the support and extend at opposite sides of the bearing rod 7. The clamping arms 16 are also provided with the cushioning bands 17. Each of the arms 16. is provided with the horizontally disposed rods or arms 18 on which" are positioned the cushioning bands 19-, it being understood that the arms 18 extend in the same plane with the bearing rod 7.

The body portion is so shaped that it readily supports a tray 20 in an efiicient manner so that the same may be moved from place to place without danger of overturning the refreshments carried by the tray.

It is often the case that persons in an automobile will drive up to a store and request that refreshments be served at the curb, and my present invention is provided so that a waiter will grasp the fixed and movable handles 6 and 12 insuch a manner that his thumb will engage the fixed handle and several of his fingers will engage the movable handle. Assuming that the tray was upon the support and the refreshments were on the tray, the waiter upon arriving at the automobile draws the movable handle towards the fixed handle against the, tension of the spring 14 thereby providing a further space between the fixed downwardly extending clamping arms 16 and the movable clamping arm 9, until the space is sufficient to position the fixed clamping arms on the inside of the automobile door and the movable clamping arm on the outside thereof, whereupon the tension of the spring 14: will support the tray supporting means in place. The rods or arms 18 will engage the top surface of the door thereby holding the tray supporting means in fixed position. It will then be quite simple to serve the occupants of the automobile or the occupants to serve themselves, and whenthey have finished their repast they may again place the glasses or dishes on the tray and not have to hold the same until the waiter againcomes out to the automobile.

Many minor changes in detail of construction may be resorted to without departure from the spirit of the invention.

. Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A serving tray support for automobiles comprising a body portion provided with outwardly and upwardly extending tray supporting arms, a handle fixed to the under surface of said body portion, a bearing rod secured to said handle at one end and at its opposite end to the body portion, and in spaced relation therto, fixed clamping arms carried by said body portion, a slidable clamping arm mounted on said hearing rod, a second handle connected with said slidable clamping arm adapted to draw the same away from said fixed arms, and resilient means normally tending to draw said slidable clamping arm toward said fixed clamping arms.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1, and cushioning means on all of said arms.

3. A serving tray support comprising a second handle connected with said slidable clamping arm adapted to draw the same away from said fixed arms, resilient means normally tending to draw said slidable clamping arm towards said fixed clamping arm, cushioning means on all of said arms, and a stop positioned on the underneath surface of said body portion adapted to limit the movement of said slidable clamping arm.

4. The combination with a serving tray, of a longitudinally extending rodarranged below the tray and having one end fixed thereto, a handle carried by the opposite end of tray to which the opposite end of the rod is attached, fixed clamping members carried by the tray and adapted to engage one face of a vertical support, an inverted U shaped member having its "legs slidably mounted on the rod and one leg being disposed in opposed relation to the fixed clamping members and constituting a movable clamping member to engage the opposite face of the vertical support, the other leg constituting a handle which lies parallel to the first mentioned handle and a resilient element normally urging the inverted U shaped member towards the fixed clamping member.

5. A device of the character described, comprising a body, a rod carried thereby and extending parallel thereto, a fixed handle carried b one end of the body, a plurality of clamping members carried by the body and extending at right angles thereto and adapted to engage one face of a support arranged at right angles to the body, an inverted U shaped member slidably mounted on the rod and one leg serving as a clamping member to engage the opposite face of such support, the other leg constituting a handle which extends parallel to the fixed. handle, and resilient means normally urging the inverted U shaped member toward the fixed clamping members.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JESSE E. MoGEE. 

